paced out.

It's the home stretch on this week and Ben's parents are coming to town tomorrow for a quick visit. We are taking them to Napa and Sonoma and I'm already looking forward to the warmer weather (90s!) and some good meals! And to help finish out the week, here are some links I thought might be of interest!

• The restaurateur behind Le Diplomate is opening a new restaurant by Union Market!

• This NPR piece from Radiotopia - The Procedure - about abortion is fascinating (hat-tip to Jordan!) - highly recommend the listen!

• Aren't these Barcelona vases from World Market great?

• Bread + Ice Cream - yes please!

• We got this bag for Ben's Mom for her birthday coming up as the perfect beach bag to carry towels, snacks, a book and more - we are going to fill it with beach essentials for her upcoming Maine trip! 

• Ben got us hooked to this show, This is Us, on NBC. Mandy Moore is back and it's like a big old romantic comedy wrapped into 18 episodes! You can get a month free of Hulu and plow through it like us. 

chef's table.

Hannah texted us a while back about Chef's Table - the series on Netflix. Have any of you seen it? We have watched the first two episodes and really enjoyed it. Each episode features an acclaimed chef and their take on food, cooking, their restaurant(s), etc. It is essentially an in-depth interview and hour with each chef and a sophisticated conversation about food and how it has shaped their lives and passion. Thank you Hannah for the great recommendation and in case you are looking for a great series on food to tune into....

caked.

I came home late last night and decided to make this Rasberry Almond Coffee Cake that Cup of Jo had posted a while back!  It's good stuff and I recommend it. Below is the full recipe - enjoy!

For the streusel topping:
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
3 tbsp. butter

For the cake:
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

To make the streusel topping: In a small bowl, combine almonds, brown sugar and 3 tablespoons butter. Using your fingers, work the butter into the sugar and almonds until blended.

To make the cake: Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Add the 5 tablespoons of butter. Using either your fingers, a pastry blender or two knives, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Don't allow the butter to melt or form a blended paste with the flour.

In another bowl, whisk together the egg, milk and almond extract. Pour over the flour mixture, and stir until just barely combined. Add the frozen berries, and fold in until just mixed through.

Spoon batter into prepared loaf pan. Top with the streusel topping, distributing evenly. Bake for about 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for ten minutes.

friendsgiving.

It's officially holiday season people! And with that in mind, we had a great friendsgiving on Saturday with good friends. Great food (as Ben keeps saying "everyone really brought their A game"), good company, and a new baby - can't get better!

Our space is a bit tight for more than 6 - but it ended up working.

And in news, remember last year when I by mistake spray painted a leaf? No? Really? You don't? Yeah, that's ok (in case you care enough and want to remember - click here) - anyway, I decided to spray paint leaves to use as place cards.

Oh yeah, and for the cocktail of the evening, we went with a Bourbon-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail. It was fantastic - highly recommend it. (I actually found it in Martha Stewart Living this month, but I can't find it online - so the full recipe is below).

I also copied this chalkboard design. I didn't have time to do the download and template - so I just free-handed it...turned out fine!

And Ben dominated the turkey scene. It was fantastic.

Not to mention the mashed potatoes, jello mold, and mac n' cheese. Em brough amazing corn pudding and apple pie. Erin/Josh brought this fantastic pureed broccoli side and a chocolate cream pie. Val came in strong with cranberry sauce and these amazing little cinnamon muffins I have been eating every morning since. And Doug/Kate came with sauteed greens, enough Dolcezza for 2015 and of course, baby Charlie!

And after dinner, we played Cards Against Humanity to close out the night!

Recipe: Bourbon-Cranberry Shrub Cocktail

1 cup of fresh or frozen cranberries

1 cup of sugar

1 cup white-wine vinegar

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of bourbon

2 tablespoons of seltzer

1. Combine cranberries, sugar and vinegar in a pot. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat; let cool completely. Refrigerate up to 3 weeks. 

2. For each cocktail, fill a rocks glass with ice. Stir in bourbon, seltzer, and 2 tablespoons shrub liquid. Add 1 tablespoon shrub cranberries; serve immediatly. 

carrot cake.

Carrot Cake. It turns out it is a favorite for a lot of people. So, I figured I would share our carrot cake recipe since it is a real winner. Hint: the secret ingredient is crushed pineapple...makes it super moist!

I didn't document the process in a great way, but I did learn how to write on my photos for future posts, so I figure that makes up for it...here we go....

Recipe

2 tsp. soda

2 cup flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. salt

1.5 cup sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

3 eggs

3/4 cup oil

3/4 cup buttermilk

2 cup grated carrots

1 cup nuts

1 cup crushed pineapple

• Sift together flour, soda, cinnamon, salt and sugar. 
• Add remaining ingredients. 
• Beat 2 minutes on medium speed on electric mixer. 
• Pour into greased and lightly floured pan(s). 
• Using 2 pans, bake at 350 for 35 minutes. Using one long pan, bake at 350 for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 325 for 25 minutes. 

Filling:

1 stick butter

1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese

1 box sifted confectioner's sugar (or 16 oz)

1 cup chopped pecans

1 tsp vanilla

• Cream the butter and cream cheese. 
• Gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla. 
• Blend in the pecans. 
• Ice the cake between the layers and on top, not on the sides. 
• Put in refrigerator. 

caked.

I plan to make this for someone special in my life at some point very soon. Amazing.

pb&chocolate.

Last weekend was a blur. We took bagels to celebrate with Geoff and Sarah the morning after they moved into their new house and also had people over for dinner on Saturday and Sunday nights whcih meant a lot (a lot) of cooking. All the while, we were dogsitting Jack and also squeezed in Home Depot and Goodwill stops. I am excited to share about our baby-steps into the world of gardening (soon to come!) but in the meantime, I highly recommend these peanut butter chocolate bars. I made these Sunday afternoon and they turned out great and were super fast and easy to make!

2014.

I love a mid-week holiday! We had a great new years eve/new years day. Timmy and Amanda stayed over on their way back down to Florida. We fixed up some beautiful steaks and this eggplant with buttermilk sauce from our Plenty cookbook. It was just how we like to ring in the new year, with best friends and a great dinner. Timmy and Amanda also brought their dog in for the night. Dodger is the full dog to come into the house and it made me want one. We also took a long walk around the neighborhood and up to the Capitol on New Years day. Hope you all are loving 2014 so far!

roasted chicken + bread salad.

For all of you out there itching to make the Roasted Chicken + Bread Salad from Zuni's Cafe that Ben made on Sunday night, I present to you the recipe and directions from Smitten Kitchen. Go forth and eat well!

It is so good and worth the work...

u-s-of-a.

I don't know where to start. We packed a lot into this weekend and I don't want to exhaust you, but man is there a lot to share. So I am going to break it down day by day by day...

Thursday, July 4

We celebrated America by having a big BBQ. This was initially mapped out to be a small 5-person affair and ballooned into 24 and required a 5:50 am wake-up so that we could prep the pork shoulders and get them on the grill by 6:30 am (more on the pulled pork coming soon!)...

Anyway, it was great and involved so many good friends and so much food!

and I dare say, the best pork Ben has ever made...

Emily, Rags and Molly stayed behind at the house with us and we sat out on the porch to watch the neighborhood mayhem that unfolded. Greg had joked with me last week about the 4th of July in our neighborhood (he has lived here for 3-4 years) and said its like Beirut in 1976. He wasn't kidding. On every corner of every block there were groups setting off M-80s and even some dynamite down the street. Seriously, that happened!

Pictures don't really do justice...so here is 20 seconds to give you a better idea....it was fantastic!

Friday, July 5

We were totally exhausted on Friday and didn't do all that much during the day. Though, we did walk up to the restaurant supply store that is by Union Market. It was gritty up in there! There are so many supply stores and vendors tucked into the lot. Ben had gone exploring through the stores one morning before work last week and took me back with him so I could see it too. Its a huge kitchen supply store that is super cheap. We have been wondering where the restaurant supply stores are in DC (in NY there were a bunch downtown) and lo and behold its just a few blocks away...if you need supplies, take a field trip over here. 

On Saturday night, we decided to venture over to the Eastern Market area. We went to Beuchert's Saloon for an early dinner...(click here to see more about Beuchert's)

After dinner, we grabbed half-milkshakes at Ted's Bulletin and walked over to Barrack's Row. We had decided early on to try and go see the Marine Barrack's Evening Parade. It had been on my list to go to for a while and we figured no better weekend for it. For those who don't know, it happens every Friday at 8:45 pm during the summer. It is a performance of music by the President's Marine Band, marchers, other ceremonial bands and the Silent Drill Platoon. It is ticketed but you can also stand in line and at around 8:00 they start to let people in. It was a gorgeous night. And we stood in line for a while...

The sky was beautiful...

And we got in!

It was really cool...and the parade went into the dark. Hands down the best part was the Silent Drill Platoon. They were unbelievable. 

Saturday, July 6

We trekked out to Alexandria on Saturday to do a Bobby Sue's Nuts! tasting at Balducci's. Tastings are always interesting. Watching people in a grocery store is actually quite entertaining, and of course, the nuts are phenomenal! 

We hurried back to the District and headed over to a dinner party near DuPont. It was classy and Asian themed and delicious. 

And this sticky rice with fried coconut on top made the night. Ben has suggested we make them and keep in bulk for every dessert. We were astounded and wowed by it!

Sunday, July 7

Thank god its finally Sunday, right?  We woke and made coffee....

And we watched the The Dark Knight Rises...have you seen it?! Then Seals, because he is such a wonderful person, helped us move our bed boxes that he had let us ship to his building back to our house...and he gave us a tour of his awesome building! His building includes a room to wash your pets. Genius. Outdoor and indoor private movie theater/screens, restaurant grade kitchens to use, and a lot more. Oh and an amazing rooftop with a pool and this view of the NoMa water tower. Uhhhhh...yeah, I still haven't recovered.

We finished the night by making pasta with left-over pork from Thursday (we are on day 4 of pork right now) and we put together our bed (pictures to come!).

Oh yeah, I should mention, it was brutally hot this weekend. Suffocating and exhausting. So, we also spent time every day watering these amazing planters that Rags and Molly brought us! Molly planted them herself...how amazing is that?!

And that's a wrap...more to come soon, but in the meantime, hope you all had a wonderful, long weekend and 4th!